Wonder which legislator did such a pitifully poor job writing a bill to spell out how a new House member should be chosen in Nevada in case of a midterm vacancy? Look no further than former Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Las Vegas.
In 2003, he sponsored Assembly Bill 344. But Perkins, now a lobbyist, thought so little of the bill that is now causing us so much of a ruckus that he handed the duties of carrying the bill to his intern.
Discussion of the bill in Assembly and state Senate committees focused on dates, not how candidates would qualify to file when there would be no primary.
The bill was about filling a House seat in case there was a catastrophe wiping out at least one-fourth of the House members or one-half of Nevada’s House delegation, so there was a sense of urgency. But it’s far more likely a congressman would die of natural causes or resign.
I asked Perkins how he thought the filing would be handled when his bill was prepared, and he emailed back, “At the time, we believed the SOS (Secretary of State Dean Heller) would create regulations to accomplish it.”
Of course, he didn’t answer the question, so I tried again Wednesday, asking again how he envisioned how the filing would work. Alas, no answer was forthcoming.
Full Article: Anyone could have written better rules for special election – News – ReviewJournal.com.